Sachin, I cant be polite here - you loathe your malayalee background to an embarrassing level and feels a constant need to use even positive and factual things like "100% literate state" as vile epithets
I mean, we all have issues against communism (I have physical scars from my past tussles with the Left), but you have issues against other people too, struggling against all odds, while you are peacefully sitting outside Kerala, letting loose what in Trivandrum lingo is called "contrakk" (slang for the road contractor types who come with a diary in the armpit and talks stuff that has no basis on the work getting done by the road workers)
I deal with Labour departments (of Kerala, TN and KA at various points till now), as part of my life here and admit that Kerala labour department is one of the best run (particularly under the current minister, a prince-ling that did not turn into a frog as is the norm nowadays) in India. It does take care of a lot of issues on both labour side and the contractor/houseowner side. For example, here is something that should poke a hole through your attempt at making "malayalees are chronically xenophobic".
My advice was that if KL folks found this a a big concern - either ensure that the migrant labour gets a decent accommodation at the labour contractor's expense, or else figure out a way to get the work using Keralite labour force.
So your advice is based on a level of ignorance, since there is already a policy (IIRC, not yet law due to scheduling) that is being implemented by a GO.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/new ... 902317.ece
Kerala is the first State in the country to enact a social security scheme for the migrant workers. While a comprehensive legislation for migrants’ welfare is still in the works, the Kerala Migrant Workers Welfare Scheme 2010 was the beginning. The scheme provides a registered migrant four benefits: accident/ medical care for up to ₹25,000; in case of death, ₹1 lakh to the family; children’s education allowance; and termination benefits of ₹25,000 after five years of work. When a worker dies, the welfare fund provides for the embalming of the body and air transportation.
The migrant workers are not treated with anything but respect for the job they do, despite some jibing about language et al. I have three Odissa brothers, who worked along with my main contractor and I did not see any discrimination, other than the Odissa brothers making fun of the horrible hindi by one of the electricians. I told them that their Odissa hindi is way crappier than mine (which itself SHQ makes fun) and we all laughed a bit. That is just one example, wherein things are taken in a camaraderie fashion, when "men actually work", instead of coming out with blanket statements on behalf of a state, that they are hardly invested in.
I see lots of NE (hospitality, personal grooming etc), Bengali (manual, unskilled), Odissa (semi to skilled), Bihari (woodworking) and Tamil (masonry) migrants around me. No one treats them like crap. Not even the hard-nosed contractor I used. He is an a-hole with everyone, when it comes to money. And he is protective of all his labourers, whenever there is a tiff between him and the architects.
Some of the "facts":
1)
In Kerala, as per Labour department, all residential goods, being delivered or loaded from a residence is exempt from union rights-of-action
2) "nokkukooli" exists in various forms, around the world, where there were land/labour reforms. Organized labour has a habit of implementing their own half-assed version of a "social security" system. This is one such. Eg: take a look at the TFTA Boston's Bricklayer Union agreements or US' notorious public utilities/metro company unions.
nokkukuli is a bargain mechanism at this point. Labour department publishes a nice little booklet, which says clearly, which is your Labour section and 24 hr cellphones of the local Labour Officer. If you feel intimidated, the LO will write a letter addressed to the Circle Inspector, citing Goonda Act (this is the US equivalent of Organized crime and rackeeteering), not the normal ones, to take action. The CI
MUST haul in the ass of the union guys and officially warn them with arrest, counter-signing over their sign in the station complaints book. The LO will then suspend them from their union privilege for a month as warning. If you are warned under goonda act and you go back and be a prick with the complainant, things get non-bailable
So where was I? Yeah, I had a 40 foot container of some household stuff I shipped from various parts of world and when it came in to my storage place near Technopark area in two trucks, the union chaps sauntered in. They asked 50,000 Rs. I politely told them that I have
a) LO letter
b) ask them to take inventory and will pay them according to the booklet (eg: the max rate is for a sofa:90 Rs, which they have to carry 25 meters, to inside house)
They did not even bat an eyelid and said, "you can use your own people. because this is not worth it". That is right from 50k (because of my dress and car) to 0 over a booklet. Actually I knew the leader of the area and rang him to come over. I told him that they actually need to help me, since I am short of labour. So we finally got a nice human chain and got the stuff done in a hour or so. Later I took them for a biriyani (with a boiled egg, they insisted) in my car and they parted. They did not even take money from me that day. Just my address. I paid all of 7500 Rs to the seven of them (3 from CITU, 2 from INTUC and 2 from BMS). Remember there were two large trucks chock full of heavy furniture and stuff and they had to climb a floor.
The idea is to treat them as equal and with respect, not cower down. Nor act feudal. They expect either of these two behaviours and we should not indulge them.
3) Like all parts of world, union procedures and tactics are different. Likewise nokkukuli is not uniform across kerala. Alapuzha ones are the pakiest, with Trivandrum and Kochi less so. With them, you got to use the labour laws. The Malabar ones are docile, rather surprisingly and them rubber/cashew chappies are easy to talk to.
4) xenophobia exists in every part of the world, including the new meccas of liberalism, LA, SFO, NY and funky Portland. Not to mention in europe, east asia, middle-east and singapore. Our own heightened sensitiveness to certain aspects, while having a thick skin for other aspects is what causes rigid opinions to form. Mostly it is not even cultural, racial or class clash, but a tribal mentality. Kerala is no different. Will you allow an out of stater to cavort with your family member? Universally, the answer is "nope". Beyond the immediate tribe, it is merely transactional "you work, I pay"
5) There are issues of varying levels of hygiene. Eg: the Odissa brothers I mentioned above, groom impeccably and are hyper-neat, that SHQ jokes they must be gay "interior designer" types in the west. But I have seen people with sloppy personal hygeine among the migrants, due to their own circumstances or merely due to not knowing. If a chap defecates around my periphery, I will yell at him. As I will, if it is some TFTA Kerala temple priest, who had to drop a dookie before rushing to do the deeparadhana. I have seen all manners of lunch-waste being piled up by the migrant labour, if the contractor provides parcel food at the site. The kerala ones are more aware of the issues of littering the landscape, what with smaller landholdings and heavy urbanization. Not to mention alert neighbourhood resident associations These are facts that are not "epitome of xenophobia", as you are trying hard to paint
geeth, that "american throwing....blah blah" is a hit piece, run as part of "union vs govt" psyops by the anti-labour types. I asked this incident to the organizers and sponsors (I had help channel some money, so I can ask with some authority), who were more than accommodative of any needs of foreign artists. The union guys came and quoted their usual rubbish prices (like my case above), but destroying et al are good old "liberal" types who egged him on or those who have an axe to grind like that self-important Kouchouseph Chittilapally. The artist loved the publicity at the expense of those barely literate, faceless union guys. MF Hussain approach to art fame, using some hapless humans to further their career.
Added later: my most recent experience mentioned above, is at an apartment I use for storage, very close to Kazhakoottam. This is part has the "worst union issues" as per general consensus. The locale where I live (to the south) has some of the most docile union types in the state